The race to be elected as member for Perth and North Perthshire could barely have been closer.
It took two recounts to separate eventual winner Pete Wishart from his Conservative opponent Ian Duncan.
It was a breathless finale to a nerve jangling campaign for all involved – and the clearly shaken victor in particular.
The decision to call for the first recount was met with a shake of the head from Mr Wishart, clearly displeased.
SNP activists nonetheless confidently, if quietly, predicted that even with the narrow margin everything would be fine – unless a sheaf of Tory votes were somehow discovered.
Within minutes, however, the mood of the room had changed for the umpteenth time of the night.
The recount slashed his majority to just 21 after a number of those very voting papers were revealed, prompting Mr Duncan and his team to call for a second recount.
During a seemingly endless delay, nerves frayed throughout the room.
Mr Duncan described the race as “tighter than my underpants” while Mr Wishart admitted his nerves had been shot to pieces.
It was a fitting end to a campaign that swung from SNP to Conservative on a seemingly daily basis.
A near 10,000 majority seemed a position of security, but Mr Duncan always believed it could be overturned.
The Conservatives made the constituency a key battleground and while Mr Duncan spoke to voters it was left to Murdo Fraser MSP to hammer the SNP and Mr Wishart personally.
Conservative confidence then grew as they seized Perth and Kinross Council from the SNP, while the Nationalists were forced to bring their election manifesto launch to Perth to boost their candidate.
It initially appeared that might not be enough as the early buzz at the count in the Bells Sports Centre in Perth was of a Conservative victory.
SNP activists, John Swinney MSP among then, looked embattled on a difficult night locally and nationally.
As the night went on, however, it became clear that Mr Wishart was reasserting his dominance – at least enough to eke out the narrowest of winning margins.
Earlier in the evening, Perth and Kinross Council SNP group leader Dave Doogan said the party had been fighting for every single vote, “chapping on doors in the driving rain” to get out the party faithful.
They succeeded with 21 to spare.
Mr Wishart, tongue in cheek, suggested he would track down and thank each of those 21 SNP voters personally.
